Sibal advocates free calls -Governance Now

Sibal advocates free calls

Minister says it is just not about talking, it is about empowerment

Shivangi Gupta | September 28, 2012

"Why should we pay to talk to each other?" questioned union minister for telecommunication and IT, Kapil Sibal. He said the mindset of the telecom industry should change. Instead of working on a model which charges people on voice, they should provide free voice services while adapting to charge for other services.

The minister was speaking at the Broadband Summit 2012 organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with department of telecommunication, ministry of communications and information technology, at hotel Le Meridien in New Delhi on Friday, September 28, 2012.

Sibal stated that the industry should look for innovative solutions for revenue models and move from a model based on voice (model for revenue). He said, "It is not just about talking but about helping each other, about sharing and about empowerment."

The minister added that the industry should look at providing appropriate content according to people. "A teacher, a student and a person who is in a Naxalite affected area should get content according to each of them."

"These are enormously fascinating ventures (related to content)," he said. Although, he said, he does not know what solutions will come through but he was sure that telecom should move forward not by voice but by content.

Sibal said that the government has achieved its target with the Akash 2 and that the department will go to the cabinet to tell that they will produce 5 million Akash 2 Tablets with the existing resources. "We will connect millions of children through Akash2 on education day," he announced.

"If there is no inclusive growth in parliament then we'll have it outside the parliament," Sibal said.

Sibal stressed on the need for energy to fulfill the dreams of the future. He said that India needed 50,000 MW of energy in 12th plan which will increase exponentially with the coming of internet and broadband. "Where will we get the electricity for all this (internet, devices)?" he asked.

Concluding his address, Sibal said that we must ensure energy supply, opening of market, movement from voice to data and convergence of devices in the future.

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